It's My Birthday Today
Happy Birthday, Brady. Did you ask for anything? Oh just for friends who like the newsletter to share it or the mix with friends who might also enjoy it/them. Not too much, I don't think!
I'll keep it short and sweet: September is a great month. It's got my birthday. It's got summer. It's got the promise of fall. And it's got the birthday of my collaborator this month–Evan Forde Barden. Evan is one of the goodest dudes you'll ever meet, and it was a dream to collaborate with him on this month's mixtape.
Evan's tastes are many and varied (like mine!), and we chatted back and forth about the millions of directions we could've taken this mixtape. Ultimately, we wound up in, I think, a really cool place. Evan talks more about it below in a much more eloquent way.
So please, listen, enjoy, bask in that last bit of summer with the both of us.
And hey, if you like it, why not share the mix or this newsletter with a friend?
Euclid Avenue at Night
Created in collaboration with Evan Forde Barden for downtown.
A few words from Evan:
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I'm a night owl by nature and I'd historically rather be out somewhere than sitting at home. Things have trended more domestic as I've hit the second half of my 30's, but the instinct to step out is still in my bones. Part of what I love about summer is that midnight is often the perfect time to be outside. People often forget that most of September belongs to summer, but before the corduroy sets in and our CSA turns exclusively to root vegetables, it's still summer for a few more weeks.
This was the first inspiration that struck after Brady reached out to collaborate on a September playlist. I wanted songs that felt fun and bright, with a bit of summer energy, while straying away from the "school's out" jailbreak passion of June and the full-blown pop, "I love everything" feeling of midsummer. The end of summer is more laid back, more subdued, maybe even a bit sexy. More eye-contact-romance, less we're-both-sweaty-flirtation. Summer at midnight, not summer at midday. I also knew that Brady and I shared September birthdays, so it may be that my feelings on late summer reveal more about my feelings on aging. "We're still fun! Still sexy! Don't you think this song is cool?" As I write this, I'm wearing truly ugly sandals I swore would never leave the house out at a bar. Yikes.
Back to the mix. As the songs started flowing, we quickly latched onto a lot of the R&B and soul selections, and something about that just felt right. Contemporary, classic, in-between...it's all sprinkled in there. As we weeded through the selections, the word that kept coming back to me was "downtown." What is that place? It's where things are happening, right? It's where the people are. For the suburbanites and the folks on the outskirts, it's a fantasy land where you escape, engage, laugh, dance, fight, and feast—all at once, if you really want to. It's stepping out for the evening. For me, it exists mostly in movies and tv shows. I'm not sure I've ever been there, but I think I've caught glimpses of it.
We don't really have this in NYC. Our downtown is either too monied or too musty to really fit the bill. But I sense that other cities, perhaps smaller ones existing in another era, are home to this seemingly fictional downtown. NYC tends to be a constellation of little downtowns, one for each neighborhood. The sense of downtown is both ever-present and entirely absent. "Downtown" feels like something elusive that's happening and rarely are you lucky enough to find it.
As it happened, after we finalized this mix, I stumbled upon one of these spots. It was late on a Saturday night at a local bar. Every song the DJ played could have fit on this Euclid Avenue at Night. I had to pay my compliments. To my astonishment, the DJ that night was Bryndon Cook aka Starchild & The New Romantic, an artist found on this very mix. I couldn't believe my luck–I'd gone downtown in my backyard. The last thing he said to me that night was, "I like when people know." So, if you know, please, please lemme know. If you listen to this mix and you know where I can find this feeling, I'll gladly step out with you, even if there's a line. After all, late summer is the perfect time of year to hang around downtown.
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Love you all. Hope you enjoy!
Join Me: Incredibly Chill Last Minute Birthday Office Hours @ Skinny Dennis, Thursday, September 2, 1:00-5:00 PM
Per tradition, I will be holding special birthday Office Hours at Skinny Dennis. I am 34 now (and COVID and shit), so they will be daytime (less crowded) and incredibly laid back (I don't want to fall asleep on the cab ride home), but there absolutely will be cheap beer, good country music, and hot peanuts where you can throw the shells on the ground.
Please stop by at any point during the Office Hours to discuss any of the aforementioned topics or otherwise. I am making myself available for your benefit. Please make use of the time.
RIYL: country music, Brady, cheap beers & good conversation, peanut shells on the ground, making use of the time
Listen to Steve Miller Band's "Take the Money and Run".
Some Other Things Evan Loves
(that you might love too!)
Emily King - Live on KEXP - I don't know that Emily King needs a shout-out from me at this point in her career, but I'm going to see her on September 1st and it'll be the first big concert of my post-pandemic year, so I am very excited. If you don't know Emily, she's a NY native who blends pop, r&b, and jazz into songs that grab a hold of you and only sink in deeper as time goes on. One of my favorite artists of the past four years and a true talent.
Jacob the Horse - College Party Mixtape, Vol. 1 - For a completely different ~vibe~, please check out my friends Jacob the Horse. Aside from the personal connection, they released this totally kick-ass album earlier this year and I love it a lot. A part of me will never get over big guitars and punk rock gang vocals and I don't think I ever should. RIYL Jeff Rosenstock, which is a big goddamn compliment!!
re: the dialectics fail me - My bud Ryan Douglass puts out a newsletter more or less about urban growth and production in post-industrial cities called re: the dialectics fail me. His writing never ceases to impress me and I'm regularly amazed by the precision with which Ryan can pinpoint a feeling, particularly when it comes to being a young(ish) person trying to live in a New York City that is more Chase bank than Shea Stadium with each passing day. There's no fancy Mailchimp or Substack, you subscribe by e-mailing him at ryandouglass26@gmail.com. You won't regret it. Or maybe you will, but that's kind of the point. Check him out on IG too.
Chinese Cooking Demystified - Few things have brought me more simple joy and peace in the last year than this YouTube channel. Run by a delightful couple living in China with their adorable dog, Chinese Cooking Demystified walks western viewers through the basics of Chinese cooking and generally spotlights much of what makes Chinese cuisine so amazing, all in simple to follow, highly relatable videos. I stumbled upon their tour of a common Chinese wet market in the wake of Covid going global and just about everything I've watched since has brought a smile to my face (even if I will never eat it).